1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intraocular lens injector for inserting an intraocular lens into an eye in replacement of a crystalline lens extracted during cataract surgery, and more particularly, to an intraocular lens injector, in which a cartridge, in which an intraocular lens is placed, is integrally formed with a cylinder, in which a plunger slides, and the cartridge is slidably covered such that the intraocular lens can be kept or carried while being placed in the cartridge, thereby eliminating the inconvenience of connecting the cartridge including the intraocular lens to the cylinder during cataract surgery and facilitating the cataract surgery.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Cataract is a disease caused by opacity of the crystalline lens of the eye and may lead to blindness in severe cases. The cataract is classified into a congenital cataract present in utero or at birth, a senile cataract occurring in the aged, a generalized cataract caused by various diseases, and the like. Among them, the senile cataract is most frequently observed in the aged.
Methods for treatment of cataract include pharmacotherapy and surgery. Since there is no guarantee that the pharmacotherapy can completely cure the cataract, the cataract surgery is mainly used.
Cataract surgery methods include intracapsular extraction, in which the entire crystalline lens and its enclosing capsule are removed, and extracapsular extraction, in which the posterior capsule of the crystalline lens having a thickness of about 0.01 mm, which is located adjacent to the hyaloid, is left in place and the remaining crystalline lens is removed.
The intraocular lens is an artificial lens used to replace the natural crystalline lens of the eye when the natural lens has cataracts or is otherwise diseased. The intraocular lens is also sometimes implanted into an eye to correct refractive errors of the eye. The intraocular lens may be made of a variety of materials or combinations of materials such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), silicone, hydrogel, silicone hydrogel, etc.
In order to implant the intraocular lens into the eye, the sclera of the eye is incised, and a viscoelastic material is injected into the sclera to protect the anterior tissues. Then, the upper part of the lens capsule is incised to remove the clouded lens. Subsequently, the clouded lens nucleus is completely removed from the lens capsule, and the intraocular lens is injected into the lens capsule while injecting the viscoelastic material into the lens capsule to facilitate the insertion of the intraocular lens. The intraocular lens is injected into the lens capsule in a folded or rolled state and then restored to its original state, during which an intraocular lens injector is used.
The above-described intraocular lens injector has a structure in which a cartridge in which an intraocular lens in a folded or rolled state is placed and a cylinder for pushing the intraocular placed in the cartridge to the eye are separated from each other, and thus it is inconvenient to connect the cartridge and the cylinder for the use of the intraocular lens injector. Moreover, the intraocular lens preloaded into the cartridge is inserted into the eye by pushing the cylinder during cataract surgery on the eye from which the crystalline eye is extracted, which increases the difficulty of the surgery.
Various studies have been carried out to solve the above problems, various studies have been conducted to in progress in recently years, but there is no clear solution yet.